


Through the open window

by GavotteAndGigue



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Bottom Jason Todd, Case Fic, JayDick Summer Exchange, M/M, Murder Mystery, Plot, Porn With Plot, lazarus pit effects, supernatural powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:55:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25796992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GavotteAndGigue/pseuds/GavotteAndGigue
Summary: The Lazarus Pit can affect those dipped in its waters for years, and for Jason it comes in the form of unwanted visions of death. Unfortunately, his latent ability starts to spiral out of control just as he becomes embroiled in a new case. Jason reluctantly agrees to allow Dick to help solve the case as he struggles to keep his ability in check, all while complicated feelings surface for the both of them.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson/Jason Todd
Comments: 30
Kudos: 223
Collections: JayDick Summer Exchange 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [myvividreams](https://archiveofourown.org/users/myvividreams/gifts).



> @myvividreams, I took "Lazarus Pit effects" with "supernatural power" and "bottom jay" and tried to go with it. Not quite the exact prompt but hope it still fulfills the spirit of your requests!

It was morning only in the sense that it was the time that Jason woke up, but the shadows were already stretching long as the sun settled low on the horizon. A feeling of unease was creeping at the edges of his awareness as he blinked awake. That in itself wasn’t unusual for him. Life as a vigilante tended to make one hyper-alert and paranoid, but this feeling was different from the normal caution that came with the typical occupational hazards of being a vigilante. There was no telltale click of triggers at the ready, and no displaced silhouettes or whisper of footsteps to signal that someone had broken through his security. It was just a sort of tickle that crept up his spine, tugging on something less tangible inside him. Jason gave into the impulse to squeeze his shoulder blades together to dissipate the feeling, but it didn't go away.

He'd felt this before. Many times. Jason tended to think of it as the stain of death that clung to him as he crawled out from his grave. Or maybe it was a lingering curse from the Lazarus pits. He wasn't completely sure, because his memories of the time from grave to green pit-waters was a bit fuzzy. But he knew that this feeling—this _thing_ —had been a part of him since he woke up half drowned and sodden after climbing out of the pit, and even though he expected it, he still startled when he finally dragged himself out of bed to stand in front of the bathroom mirror.

Instead of his normal scruffy, bed-mussed mug, the reflection in the mirror that stared back was the stuff of nightmares: sunken black hollows for eyes, shriveled leathery skin over shrunken, rotted flesh, and the tatters of what used to be a cleanly pressed burial suit.

With a gasp Jason instinctively backed up a step, and the horrific corpse—like an image of death stamped over the shape of his soul—moved with him. When he blinked again the horror was gone. The mirror snapped back to his usual reflection, revealing how tired he still looked despite the tinge of fear that momentarily colored his expression. Jason splashed water over his face and sighed. It was probably going to be a bad night, he thought.

Visions of death usually portend exactly that, but sometimes it was hard to say whose. Jason had learned over time that flashes like this were rarely literal. Seeing his own corpse overlaid on his visage meant that death was skirting close, but there were a multitude of ways that could actually manifest. On one end of the long string of possibilities it could literally be a sign that he was going to kick the bucket again soon. On the other end it could mean that he was simply the mechanism of death, with someone meeting their maker at his hands. There was the possibility of anything and everything in between too.

Death would be coming one way or another. Jason was certain of that. He might as well be prepared, but first thing's first: he had to _close the window._

Having a line of sight for oncoming death wasn’t something Jason would ever call a gift, and while it had its occasional uses—forewarning for someone gunning for you was advantageous indeed—but constantly seeing things that weren't actually there? Not so much.

More often than not, it brought the echoing pain from his own death, amplified with each impression he came across. Death clung to _everything_ in a multitude of ways most people wouldn’t expect. It showed in how the haze of grief and pain adhered to the mourning, in the way the decay of disease marred the faces of the ill, and in the way it lingered as blood spatters even on the hands of people who were trying to save lives: doctors and nurses and EMTs and such. Death was a cloud of heavy darkness that dusted the streets and painted the people of the city with red and rot. It meant seeing constant jumbled visions of gore. In the best of cases it was a warning against danger. In the worst of cases, horror begat horror—pulling on a string of entrails would eventually get you a bloody organ. Streaming visions of death would eventually drive Jason to madness with flashbacks of his own demise.

Nipping it in the bud before it spiraled was the best way to control it. Jason turned to the bedroom and sat down cross-legged on the floor. He closed his eyes, palms open, and took several slow, deep breaths like Ducra and his mentors in the All-Caste had taught him. He pictured a window in the darkness of his mind's eye, beyond it dark clouds and rivers of blood. Then he imagined reaching out, gripping the window sash and slamming it down.

Jason opened his eyes and checked the mirror. Only the flatness of his own dispirited eyes stared back.

The window was shut.

A check of his data feeds, a review of messages from several informants, and a BLT sandwich later, Jason was ready to go for the night. He strapped on his holsters, shrugged on his leather jacket, flipped the switch to his security alarms and headed out onto the rooftops.

His first stop was an R&D lab that he had initially suspected was a shell for distributing "surplus" pharmaceuticals on the streets. On the surface the large imports of raw materials, high grade machinery, and specialized lab equipment looked to be legitimate, but after he dug into their logs the addition of a gene printer, large volumes of bio-material, plus an electron fabricator raised some questions. The lab was approved for only a limited amount of controlled substances in its research. There was something fishy going on, Jason just wasn’t sure exactly what it was yet, though it certainly couldn’t be good.

Jason wasn’t wrong, but not in the way he expected. As soon as he dropped through the ceiling tiles, he was immediately struck by flashes of a blood spattered floor, flickering in and out of his vision like a strobe. The effect was jarring. He stumbled a few paces as he tried to get his bearings.

Death was present. Recently too, otherwise it wouldn't have blown _the window_ inside his mind wide open again. Jason pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to quiet the noise, imagining the window slowly sliding down. He didn't have time to fully close it, not with him being in the middle of a break-in at the lab he was currently investigating, but he managed to slow the impressions to a manageable trickle.

Finding a grisly, blood-soaked scene in an R&D lab certainly put a new spin on things. He wasn't just looking at illegal drug trafficking, he was looking at a murder. With that in mind, Jason widened his search of the network to include scrubbed security footage in addition to inventory and research files as he hacked one of the lab computers. Within a few minutes he had the data on a card and a plan to parse through the information the rest of the night, but a sound like the squeak of rubber-soled shoes caught his ear.

He whirled, guns drawn, ready to greet a rush of security or maybe some hired thugs, but instead of a physical attack he was struck once more by a flickering image of blood. Streaks this time, running along the floor as if a body was being dragged.

 _Damnit,_ Jason cursed inwardly. What the heck was going on with this case? The impressions were coming on strong. He hadn’t had this a hard time keeping the window shut like this in years. The last time was when he’d let himself sink into the undertow of death by seeking revenge on Bruce. It had dragged him deep into pain, and his pit-addled brain had been convinced that the only way out was to take out the Joker as well as himself in the process too. It had taken a while to come back from that, and since then he’d kept the visions as tightly controlled as possible: window shut and shuttered, locked up in his mind where the visions couldn’t escape.

Except sometimes, for no rhyme or reason the window got blown open, like now, but at least at the moment it was controllable. And the visions of blood… well maybe he could use that as a clue.

He followed the trail like a hound, down several flights of stairs to the bottom floor, out a backdoor to round from an alleyway into the street. The trail continued, the vision now growing more enigmatic as the blood streaks began to run like a stream into the gutters. There were other, less recent images creeping into his field of vision too. Things like a pale hand swinging a bar of dull metal, the spatter of dark fluid arcing in the air, the crescent of yellowed teeth wrapped amidst a maniacal smile–

 _No._ Jason pushed the flashbacks out of his mind. He had to focus. This was a case, not the time to relive his shittiest memory. He quickly jogged down the block to grab his bike and gunned the engine, concentrating on the task at hand: follow the trail while the vision was fresh. Experiencing an _open window_ was a pain, but also a rare opportunity.

The trail led him eastbound over the Brown Bridge and out of the city, then south on the interstate. The visions of blood streaming into his brain continued, now superimposed on pavement so much that it just looked like a wide smear of red at this point. Easy to follow, but harder and harder for Jason to stay focused. A phantom laughter was growing in his ears, and he knew if he didn't stop to shut the window soon, the flashbacks would grow to overwhelm him.

He just needed to hold it together long enough to figure out where the murderers went next, and lo and behold, he soon found himself crossing over into Blüdhaven.

It figured. The 'Haven often got dumped with the worst of the runoff from Gotham's industrial slurry and the metaphor turned literal when it also translated into bodies. Blüdhaven was Dick’s turf though, and as much as Jason hated to admit it, things had been better with various members of the bat family lately, especially Dick. It made sense to give him a heads up, and if things turned out to have deeper roots in Dick’s adopted city, well then maybe Jason could leverage some of his intel and resources.

 _Maybe they’d even get to work together on the case._ The thought suddenly invaded his mind, a small feeling of thrill and excitement accompanied it, and Jason immediately tried to squelch it. It was stupid to still be harboring his childhood enthrallment after all these years. They’d worked together a few times in recent months, but Jason had concluded it was best to keep it professional. He’d let Dick know he was in the city. That was all.

Jason sent a small ping to Nightwing over comms as he skirted into the edge of town. No immediate response, so he continued following the trail along the run-down docks of the old whaling port until he reached a dilapidated pier. He dismounted from his bike and stumbled to the end, following the line of dark, wet streaks that stained the weather-worn boards until he could peer over the edge at the ocean below.

The water was bubbling, steaming hot with a metallic tang in the air. Jason gagged at the smell. The pungent odor was somehow seeping through the filters of his helmet, and even with only the light of the moon for illumination, Jason could see the water was tinged red. Like boiling blood.

“What the hell?” he choked through a breath. The smell of it was burning his lungs, like he was breathing in smoke. He felt the burn of fire and suddenly he wasn’t on the pier anymore. He was laying on the floor of a warehouse, his body a mess of ache and agony. There was blood in his eyes… blood in his mouth, on his hands, on his legs… and in the background there was laughter. Maniacal laughter… _ha ha ha ha hahahahahahaha!_

“No!” Jason shouted, and he was back on the pier again, looking out over the bubbling water.

Shit. He was losing himself to the visions. He had to get himself under control. He had to get away from here and hole up somewhere until he could get it under control.

But the water… it was still bubbling, and he couldn't tell if it was a vision or not. Was it real? He looked down at it once more, leaning over the edge to get a better look, when suddenly something burst out from below. Whatever it was, it was hot and fiery as it exploded through the dock boards, drenching him in a gush of heated seawater.

Jason staggered and fell backward, gaping up in shock and horror as something approached—a blackened humanoid form wrapped in fire—like a burning corpse. It _hissed._ Jason could hear the crackle and pop of burning flesh, except it was still moving. The hiss rose to a screech, and it flared up blindingly bright until he couldn’t see.

Something impacted him in the chest, and the world seemed to erupt in fire as he lost consciousness.

* * *

When he woke next, he was laying on something soft. Comfortable. He kept his eyes closed as he took stock of himself: his chest felt a little sore, but other than that there was no immediate pain. He didn’t seem to be restrained, he could tell it was bright enough to be daylight, and he could hear the faint sounds of distant traffic, but he couldn't quite place the environment without opening his eyes.

He blinked them open slowly, a well-lit domestic setting fading into focus, until unconsciousness cleared and he was staring up into a worried-looking pair of beautiful blue eyes. It was Dick.

Jason immediately shot up into a seated position, and then realized with embarrassment that he was lying naked in what must have been Dick’s bed. That was the only logical conclusion, because he was in an unfamiliar bedroom, with the other currently staring at him half in surprise at the sudden waking.

"What happened?" Jason managed to sputter, pulling the sheet up until his lower half was mostly covered. He couldn't suppress the heat in his cheeks however as the thought struck that Dick had probably undressed him.

Dick didn’t outwardly acknowledge Jason’s discomfort, but he leaned back in the chair that was pulled up beside the bed to give Jason a little more space. "I got your hail over comms,” he explained, “but when I finally got there, I found you practically incoherent on one of the old whaling docks. I thought maybe you'd been fear-gassed, so I gave you an anti-toxin and eventually you settled down." There was a crease between his brows as he asked, "What's the last thing you remember?"

Jason closed his eyes and thought back. "I was on the dock and there was something in the water," he recalled. It had leapt out at him looking like a burning corpse, but had that been a vision that came through the _window?_ It seemed to be closed now, thankfully, but he remembered the bite of fire on his skin. That could also have been a flashback of the Joker though, but it had felt so real. One way to tell if it had actually happened was to see if his clothes were singed. He glanced around the room, but they were nowhere to be found.

"Where are my clothes?" He asked Dick.

“Uh, sorry,” Dick offered an apologetic smile. “I had to strip you down. You were soaked in seawater and harbor sludge. Blüdhaven’s not exactly known for its environmental cleanliness, and there was a chance that whatever you got dosed with was on your clothes. I put what I could in the wash, but I think your jacket's done for.” He got up and began rifling through a drawer. “What did you see in the water? Do you know what you got hit with?”

Huh. Dick was assuming he’d been gassed? It was a reasonable guess, and the symptoms would have presented similarly if he had a flashback of the Joker bludgeoning his skull. Jason decided not to correct Dick’s assumption for now. _The window_ wasn't something he wanted to discuss. He’d never mentioned it to any of the bats and it hadn’t been much of an issue in recent years. Instead he refocused on Dick’s question

“Not sure," Jason replied. "I was looking for a body, but something came out at me.” After considering for a moment, he admitted, “Whatever it was, I think it might have been on fire. Maybe even a meta. It crashed into me and I must have passed out.”

Dick held out a towel and a jumble of fabric that Jason figured was a set of spare clothes. He gave Jason an odd look as he said, “You didn’t exactly pass out. You don’t remember anything after that?”

“No.” Jason shook his head. A flicker of worry crept into Dick’s features, and Jason began to wonder if he had done something when he was unconscious?

"You were really out of it, but don't worry about it." The concern on Dick’s face was replaced with a reassuring smile. It was so warm and genuine and unexpected that it made Jason uncomfortable.

"Oh," Jason replied. The heat of embarrassment tinged his cheeks again. Dick always had a knack for making Jason self-conscious, even when he was trying to be nice. It was one reason Jason liked the fact that he usually wore a helmet, because sometimes a stupid thing like a pat on the back or a “good job” from Dick sent a bloom of warmth through his belly and a blush to the tips of his ears. The helmet had saved his pride enough times on such occasions that it was well worth the several thousand dollars it cost to fabricate a replacement every time it shattered.

Dick set the towel and clothing on the bed. “I had you do a washdown in the shower last night, but you’ll probably still want to get cleaned up. You can fill me in on your case after." He leaned forward and squeezed Jason’s shoulder. It was probably meant to be a friendly gesture, but it had those fluttering butterflies kicking up a typhoon in his stomach. The heat of Dick’s hand on his bare skin felt good for some reason, and against his better judgement Jason instinctively leaned into it.

There was a brief moment where Jason thought that he might let himself want this. That it might be nice to not constantly be on guard. That maybe he could trust Dick, because sometimes in moments like the present, it felt like all the playful banter, the competitive teasing, and the way they naturally adjusted to fit each other’s styles when they worked together could be something more. But then Jason remembered that this was Dick—the person who was pretty much universally liked because he was compatible with anyone. Dick was just being his usual friendly self, and Jason was no one special.

Jason stiffened and shrugged away. The smile dropped from Dick’s face, but he quickly removed his hand.

“I’ll go clean up,” Jason said.

“Yeah, okay.” For once Dick looked a little awkward as he backed up from the bed. “I’ll just be in the living room. Come out when you’re ready.” He brought the smile back as he turned and left the room.

The shower sounded like a good idea. Jason felt sticky from sweat and the remnants of harbor grime. Whatever washdown Dick had put him through wasn't quite thorough enough to get the stink of sludge out of his pores. It was disconcerting that he didn't remember any of it though.

He quickly glanced at the mirror as he entered the bathroom, bracing himself for another phantasm in place of his reflection, but only his own world-weary eyes greeted him back. He sighed as he stepped into the shower, relieved that _the window_ was finally closed. He lingered a little longer than he intended, the warm spray of water soothing the multitude of aches and pains that cropped up overnight. He smeared Dick’s soap over his skin and rubbed the shampoo into his hair, attempting to scrub off the film of grit that his brief contact with the Blüdhaven’s bay had layered onto his skin.

He should probably wash Dick’s sheets, Jason thought. Waking up naked in Dick’s bed had been the stuff of childhood fantasy, though not quite like this. It involved less memory loss and filth of a different sort. Jason had thought he'd outgrown his crush, but _damnit_.

Just the thought of it was making him grow hard. At least he was alone in the privacy of the shower, and it was better that he take care of it now rather than embarrass himself even further in front of Dick.

Jason soaped up his hand again and reached down to slide his palm around his erection. He stroked himself firmly and quickly, his thoughts drifting unbidden to images of Dick’s bright blue eyes, the inexplicable pull of his smile, and how warm his hand had felt on the bare skin of his shoulder. He imagined that hand sliding down further, wondering what it would be like to feel Dick’s kiss, to surrender and fall into the fold of his embrace….

The thoughts slipped through the barricades he’d put up around his heart, hooked into some part of him that felt bare and exposed and tugged and tugged until he was falling over the crest of orgasm. He sucked in a breath and held it, suppressing a gasp as he came, twitching his hips as small tremors of pleasure bloomed through his body.

When it was over, Jason was left feeling empty and spent as the water washed away the evidence of his foolish infatuation. Dick had never looked at him in that way. Jason didn't expect he ever would either, but in his weaker moments he allowed himself to pretend for a few minutes before he shuttered that part of himself away, just like he did _the window._

Jason turned off the water and got dressed in Dick’s spare clothes: a sleeveless tee that stretched a little tight over the chest and a pair of drawstring sweats that were a little too short. He let them hang a little lower on his hips than he normally would in an attempt to not look like he was wearing waders, and then went in search of Dick.

He found Dick where he said he would be, sitting in the small living area of his apartment and setting out some takeout containers around a laptop on the kitchen table. As Jason approached, he could see Dick was running an analysis on none other than the R&D lab Jason had investigated the night before. Dick must have found the data chip in Jason’s discarded clothing.

Jason scowled as he sat down in front of the computer, shooting a sideways glance over at Dick as he scanned the files.

"Sure, of course you can look through my files. Thanks for asking." Jason poured the sarcasm on thickly. It was a little petulant, but it was very much like Dick to butt in and try to take over his case. Even if he hadn't secretly hoped that Dick would team up for the investigation, he was wary of Dick's tendency to want to hold the reins. Sometimes he did it so casually, so effortlessly and so naturally that once you realized you were following him, it was already too late. Jason wondered how much he intentionally blinded people with the combination of his confidence and good looks because it was damn effective. So much that half the time people accepted him as a leader simply because they were too enamored by his charm.

It was frustrating. Jason felt like kicking himself because he was falling into the trap even though he realized what was going on.

"Sorry," Dick replied sheepishly. "I was worried that you might have gotten hit with a potential new variant of fear gas. I needed to scan through your data to see if there were clues to the source in case the symptoms didn't clear."

The open expression of his eyes and the slight upturn at the corners of his mouth gave Dick an almost gentle look, but it was deceptive. Sure, he was friendly and easy going on the surface, but underneath he could be as manipulative, underhanded and as iron-willed as Bruce. He tempered it with his signature affability, but the reality was there was nothing soft about Dick. He was probably working Jason with his charm, to what end though, Jason didn’t know.

With that in mind, Jason grumbled, “Combing the data for info on toxins makes sense, but you’re applying a deep learning architecture across my database and your Blüdhaven network. You’re not just scanning the data, you’re _working my case.”_

“Is that really such a bad thing?” Dick took a chair beside him and leaned his elbows on the table. The slight up-curve that pulled at the corner of his mouth grew into a sly grin. “Come on, we’ve worked a few cases together before, and we can pool our resources. You're looking for a body in Blüdhaven, and I know where most of them are buried. Sort of." Dick beamed a smile at him.

It felt like getting hit by a floodlight. Jason squinted under the blast of cheerfulness and scowled. It wasn't that he didn't want to work the case with Dick, after all Jason had secretly hoped for that very same thing on the way here. It was just that he didn't like Dick pushing him around.

"You're going to insist I play by your rules," Jason crinkled his nose in distaste.

"Because I know you can." Dick somehow made it sound like he was handing out a gold star. "And you'll play by the rules only because you want to."

"You're going to be really fucking annoying about it the whole time," Jason groaned and leaned back in the chair.

"And you're going to give me a hard time and challenge me every step of the way." Dick looked far happier about that than he should. "See? You're already having fun. So quit complaining and let's make a plan for tonight."

Jason sighed. Dick wasn’t exactly wrong. He did enjoy the push and pull of their repartee. Plus there was never a dull moment when working with the first boy wonder—he had pretty much set the bar for making crime-fighting look fun.

"Fine. Let's make a plan." Jason's words didn't sound nearly as begrudging and put out as he wanted them to.

"Great!" Dick clapped his hands together and stood up. "I'll get some plates. We should eat while the food's hot."

Jason watched him practically glide into the kitchen. It was unfair that Dick could make something as simple as shuffling to the kitchen for dining-ware look so elegant and graceful. Jason sniffed in mock vexation, getting a whiff of the takeout Dick had ordered as he did so. He was starting to feel a pang of hunger. He hadn't eaten since the night before, and judging by the drifting sunlight it was now well into the afternoon. Jason had just started poking his head into the food containers as Dick returned with flatware and plates when his stomach immediately soured.

Dick was setting the plates down, but his hands were suddenly covered in blood and ash. Dark spots of blood were flecked across his face.

Jason sucked in a breath as he realized _the window_ was open again, and it looked like death was going to touch them both.


	2. Chapter 2

Jason had been wholly terrified when Dick had found him the previous night, curled in a fetal position on the dock, hands clutching over his helmet as he screamed and sobbed. Dick hadn't been able to get Jason coherent enough to confirm, but a dose of fear toxin was the most likely cause, though how it had gotten through the filters of Jason’s helmet was a mystery. 

Dick always kept a dose of anti-toxin on hand just in case, and surprisingly, after adminstering the dose, Jason was tractable enough for Dick to push into a _borrowed_ car. The closest safe house was actually Dick’s apartment, and as soon as he’d gotten Jason upstairs Dick pushed him into the shower for a washdown. Dick wasn’t normally one to be shy about nudity, but somehow stripping Jason down felt invasive, especially since Dick himself had had to strip out of his suit too to attempt to maneuver Jason into the shower. He kept it as clinical as he could, but there was only so much he could do to avert his gaze when he was trying to wrangle a grown man into a small space. Jason remained incoherent the entire time, his eyes unfocused and his breathing ragged, biddable but with no apparent cognizance or recognition that it was Dick, almost as if he was lost in his own head. It was extremely worrying. Dick had never seen a fear toxin elicit a docile response, and he was grateful that he’d found Jason before anyone else did.

Except Jason started to fight when Dick tried to pull him out of the shower, and nothing short of tackling him to the floor and administering a sedative seemed to work. He managed to drag Jason stumbling and sopping wet onto the bed as the tranquilizer began to take effect, and even then Dick had had to pin him down until he stopped struggling, kneeling with his knees on either side of Jason’s thighs and pressing his wrists down beside head. Dick didn’t want to have to cuff him, but if the sedative didn’t kick in, Dick was going to have to. 

Jason kept resisting though, somehow fighting through the sedative to find a tremendous amount of strength to dislodged Dick from atop him. He curled up again and clutched at his head, crying out as if in pain. Dick scrambled forward and instinctively pulled Jason into his arms, cradling Jason to his chest as he tried to soothe him.

“Jay, It’s me. Dick. It’s okay. I’ve got you,” Dick had held him like that, feeling out of his depth but unwilling to let go. Fear toxin could dredge up the worst of one’s personal horrors, and Dick had a pretty good guess about what Jason’s could be. There wasn’t anything more Dick could do if Jason was reliving his murder at the hands of the Joker, but at the very least he didn’t want Jason to go through it alone.

Eventually Jason quieted down as the sedative finally took full effect and he passed out. It had been a little awkward and strange, propped up against the headboard with a very unconscious and very nude Jason lying in his arms, but Dick found he didn’t quite want to let go. He must have fallen asleep at some point, because he woke up several hours later to find himself in a tangle of limbs with Jason still out cold.

Dick had gingerly extracted himself, feeling an unintentional heat brewing up in his loins as he peeled himself away. It wasn't the first time that Dick had noted an attraction toward Jason, but hitherto he'd chalked it up to a natural reaction to someone who was good-looking. After all, Jason was tall and broad, well-muscled and fit, with a charmingly wicked grin that always had a hint of mischief. Dick had never acted on the attraction, mostly because Jason was extremely guarded with anything that even remotely suggested anything personal. Even if Jason hadn't been in distress Dick wasn't sure he'd be receptive to any advances.

In their current situation, Dick was also pretty sure Jason wouldn't appreciate being pawed at while knocked out. _Now was not the time,_ and if Jason needed something from him it probably wasn't _that_ sort of relationship. For now at least. Maybe once he helped Jason figure out his case, Dick would have time to feel him out. In the meantime, Dick ignored the uncomfortable ache of arousal and tried to focus on the more important matter at hand: finding out how Jason had been dosed. He sifted through Jason’s discarded clothing and found a data card. After throwing what he could in the wash he began running an analysis on Jason’s files. Dick left the machine to map the connections as he returned to his room. He pulled a chair up beside the bed and contemplated his next steps.

Whenever one of them got dosed, they usually did a blood test, but Dick was hesitant given Jason’s overall reluctance to let any of them examine him the few times he’d been injured while the others were around. Dick settled on just doing a cursory check—his vitals were stable and there was no sign of any untoward effects other than the furrowed brow of fitful sleep. If he didn’t wake up in the next hour or so then Dick would bring him back to the cave, but until then, Dick would just keep a close watch.

He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, watching the steady rise and fall of Jason’s chest as he breathed in slumber. It was rare that Dick had a quiet moment like this, even rarer that he and Jason would have one together, even with one of them unconscious. Dick pulled the crumpled bed sheet to cover Jason more properly, resisting the urge to brush Jason's hair out of his face. When he was asleep, Jason looked softer and younger, which highlighted the fact that the hard edginess he exuded was mostly certainly deliberate bluster. 

Sometimes Dick found it hard to reconcile that the dangerously brutal Red Hood was one and the same as the cheerfully exuberant bookworm he'd met when Jason was Robin. The more Dick reflected on it, the more apparent it was that the hardened exterior Jason projected only served to divert attention away from what was underneath. Seeing Jason asleep like this was the closest Dick had come to building that mental bridge, and Dick found he wanted to see more.

As usual though, the moment was short-lived, because Jason was soon waking, and it quickly became apparent that he was uncomfortable with the situation. Dick subtly backed away to give him more space, though he was both relieved and disappointed that Jason didn't remember much of the previous night, but in the end he decided it was for the better. He didn't want a more intimate moment between them, however platonic, and however unconscious one of them was, to be tainted with Jason’s fear-gas induced nightmares. 

Things had started to look up though, and Jason was back to his usual surly self as soon as he marched out of Dick’s bedroom wearing Dick’s shirt (stretched a little too tight across his chiseled pecs) and the drawstring pants hanging precariously low on the crest of his hips. Dick wasn’t normally one to ogle, but he had to try his darndest not to let his appreciation show. 

Fortunately, Jason was conveniently lacking in enough self-awareness to notice, even as he submitted surprisingly quickly to Dick cajoling him into working together. 

Dick felt his stomach drop however, as he watched Jason's adorably grumpy expression suddenly contort into one of fear the moment Dick set down some plates for their meal. Jason looked white as a sheet, the wide shock in his eyes was similar to the look he had the night before. 

“What’s wrong?” Dick immediately hurried over, reaching his hand out to grab Jason’s shoulder.

Jason’s eyes widened in shock as Dick approached. He seemed on the verge of jumping out of his seat, but at the last moment he regrouped enough to catch Dick by the wrist. Jason stared at Dick’s hand for a moment, and then released it, turning away and then scrunching his eyes closed. 

"Is it the fear gas?" Dick consciously battled the impulse to reach for Jason again. It would likely only make things worse. "If the anti-toxin didn't work we need to get you to the cave and analyze a sample."

"No!" Jason snapped his eyes open. "I'm fine. Just give me a minute."

He got up out of his chair and practically bolted back into the bathroom. Dick rushed after him but Jason slammed the door shut and locked it.

"Jason?" Dick called through the door as he rattled the doorknob, starting to feel a little frantic now. He wasn't sure what had set Jason off, but this wasn't normal. It was possible for hallucinations to linger for a day or so after getting fear-gassed, but that also meant that whoever got dosed needed to be monitored closely. Dick rapped on the door and called out again, “Jay? Open the door, or I’m coming in!”

“I said gimme a few minutes!” Jason shouted through the door.

Dick didn’t want to chance it. Fear gas could make people act unpredictably, and he wanted to make sure Jason wasn’t spiraling before he let him out of his sight. The bathroom door only had a privacy lock that Dick easily popped open with a pin.

“I’m coming in.” Dick shouted and burst through the door. 

“What the fuck?” Jason glared at Dick from where he was sitting cross-legged on the tiled floor. “What part of ‘ _give me a minute’_ did you not understand?”

“I wanted to make sure you were okay,” Dick crouched down beside Jason, leaning in close so he could see if Jason’s pupils were dilated. They looked normal. But angry.

Jason shoved Dick away and got to his feet. “You know what, I can’t do this with you here.”

“Do what?" Dick asked in confusion. Was Jason hallucinating some weird scenario?

“Jeez, would you quit it?” Jason huffed and made for the door. “It’s not fucking fear gas, okay?” 

Dick blocked his path. “Don’t forget who found you last night. I saw you. You were terrified. If it's not fear gas, then what is it?”

“Nothing. I’m fine.” Jason pushed passed him only to stumble to his knees two steps later. 

Dick hurried over and hooked an arm under Jason’s elbow to help him up, but Jason didn’t budge. He tried instead to grab Jason’s hand, toning down the edge in his voice despite the blaring alarm bells in his head. “This isn’t nothing. What’s going on?”

“I have to close it,” Jason croaked. His eyes were starting to get a little glassy and he was hyperventilating. It looked like he was about to have a panic attack.

“Close what?” 

“Just… be quiet.” Jason squeezed his eyes shut as he scooted backwards to lean against a wall. “I need quiet.”

“Okay,” Dick nodded and then realized Jason couldn’t see it, so he squeezed the hand he was still holding. 

To Dick’s surprise, Jason squeezed back. Dick watched, filled with worry and trepidation as Jason kept his eyes closed and began to slow his breathing—a deep and long breath in, a hold, and then a release. It must have been some sort of meditative cycle, Dick though. Almost on reflex, he followed suit, syncing his breathing with Jason’s as he shifted to sit beside him, wrapping both his hands around Jason’s one. After a long stretch Dick felt Jason’s grip begin to go lax. He almost thought Jason was asleep if not for the continuing cycle of rhythmic breathing. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, Jason opened his eyes.

He blinked at Dick, focus and recognition returning in tandem as they held each other’s gaze. There was a moment of quiet calm, a sort of shared peace between them that tugged at something tightly coiled in Dick’s chest. They were sitting on the floor close together, their thighs touching, Jason’s hand still clasped between Dick’s own, heightening the feeling of connectedness that Dick was sure pervaded them both. 

He squeezed Jason’s hand again, feeling the sudden urge to lean in closer, but Jason’s eyes widened in surprise. It had the opposite effect of what Dick intended, and suddenly the intimate spell was broken between them. For a moment Dick feared that whatever terror had possessed Jason earlier had returned, but instead an entirely different emotion crept into his cheeks. Jason turned the bright red of a blush and retracted his hand to hug against his chest.

"Um, uh…," Jason stammered, and then half mumbled, "sorry."

Dick smiled, relieved that the only affliction he had to worry about was Jason’s embarrassment. His hands felt somewhat empty now that he wasn’t holding Jason’s, but he’d probably be pushing it too much if he reached for him again. Dick settled on just using his words. "Are you okay?” he asked. “What just happened?"

Jason rubbed his eyes. “It’s nothing. I’ve got it under control.”

“You keep saying that, but that’s clearly not true,” Dick insisted. “It’s incapacitated you at least twice since I found you on that dock.”

“Yeah well, it's under control now.” Jason moved to get up, but Dick stopped him with a hand on his arm—just a light touch so that Jason wouldn’t interpret it as a threat.

“Jason,” Dick kept his voice even but firm, “I’m not accusing you. I’m asking because I’m concerned. What if this happens to you out in the field? What if it isn’t me who finds you? What then?”

Jason scowled and looked away, his jaw clenched stubbornly as he searched for a retort. He was wavering. Dick could tell, and knowing how Jason often reacted when he felt cornered, the best course of action was probably to back up and give him space. It was antithetical to Dick’s natural inclination, but he stood and then backed up several steps, letting Jason decide how things would go.

The result was a suspicious narrowing of Jason's eyes, but it worked. He got to his feet but didn't immediately flee. He just stood there, looking at Dick. Thinking. Analyzing. After a few moments in which they both seemed to be weighing possibilities, Jason finally gave in.

"It's not as bad as it looks," he sighed, "but swear to me you won't tell anyone, especially Bruce."

"Okay," Dick nodded. Though if whatever it was became an ongoing issue, he was pretty sure Bruce would find out anyway. Nevertheless, if it would get Jason to talk, Dick would agree. "I won't tell anyone. Not even Bruce."

Jason snorted, disbelieving, but he proceeded, albeit hesitantly. "Sometimes… _I see things._ Like a premonition. It’s always about death. Not necessarily that someone's going to die, but I see what it does to people. I see what it looks like on the dying, but it's also pain and grief on the living. It looks like blood and ashes. Things like that."

Dick couldn’t help but frown. Contrary to Jason’s suggestion, that sounded just as bad as it looked. They saw enough of murder and bloodshed in their lives as vigilantes, but to see it constantly? At best it was miserable. At worst it was torturous. "Have you always had this… ability?" 

"No.” Jason shook his head. “Only since I came back. I had… _mentors_ at one point who taught me how to shut it down. They thought it was some kind of lingering effect of the Lazarus Pit. It's usually dormant, but sometimes it comes back. If it gets bad, I get flashbacks."

"So that's what happened last night? It got bad?"

"Yeah." Jason crossed his arms and shifted on his feet. He looked like he'd rather be talking about anything else.

"And now?" Dick pushed a little more. 

"I closed it down,” Jason shrugged. “Shouldn't be a problem anymore."

Dick doubted that, but he let it slide for now. What he needed to know most immediately was whether or not it could be managed. "What causes it?"

"Not sure. Something about this case maybe.” Jason closed his eyes again, pinching the bridge of his nose as he thought back. “It was a murder. It happened in Gotham, but the body was dumped in Blüdhaven. I followed what I saw and it brought me here. I'm pretty sure of that part.... The rest, no idea."

"Okay.” Dick decided to work with it. A clue was a clue, and even though he wasn’t quite sure what to make of Jason’s revelation about this strange ability, he didn’t want to alienate Jason by questioning it too much. At least for now. There was a lot more there to unpack, but if he pushed too hard Jason would shut down. At the same time it was even more reason Dick wanted to work the case together. It would allow him to keep an eye on Jason as they investigated. He followed up with, “Tell me what you know. We can incorporate it into the data you pulled."

Jason seemed relieved that Dick returned to focusing on the case, and he was much more at ease as he filled Dick in on the details. By that afternoon they were back at Dick’s kitchen table, looking through the scrubbed footage for evidence of murder.

They found it after running through a recovery script. Dick leaned over Jason’s shoulder to get a better look at the screen as Jason pulled up the first video. It was the lab Jason must have broken into. A woman wearing a lab coat with shoulder-length dark hair hurried in and crouched behind a desk. She could clearly be seen on the camera, though it looked like she was obscured from view from the entrance. After a moment she fumbled something from out of her pocket. It looked like a syringe. She nervously rolled up her sleeve and injected herself with it.

"Any idea what that is?" Dick asked.

Jason shook his head. "I was looking into the lab as a possible source of street opioids, but looks like even the pharmaceutical research was just a shell.” He forwarded the video several minutes until several armed guards burst into the room. The woman made a run for it, but she didn’t get very far. The guards tackled her to the floor, but she struggled. It was hard to make out what exactly happened next, but the woman suddenly seemed to burst into flames. Fire erupted outward toward the guards from her hands. It looked like she was weilding some kind of meta power.

They responded by opening fire. 

It only took a few shots, and the woman collapsed. The fire disappeared and she was left lying in a pool of blood.

Jason’s strange ability had proved true. There had been a murder at the lab he visited only a few days ago, and more than likely a body had been dumped over the edge of the pier.

“I’ll make a call to my contacts in BPD,” Dick pulled out his phone. “I know a good detective. She’ll bring out a cadaver dog and have them dredge the pier.”

Once he made the call, Dick returned to where Jason sat in front of the computer. He was pulling up the company HR files with a picture of the woman from the video. “Lenore Lee,” he said. “She was an MD, PhD, and staff scientist in experimental therapeutics, but looks like her specialty is gene therapy. Her CV is pretty impressive and includes multiple papers on metagenes.”

“That might explain the injection and the fire. It could be she’s been experimenting on simulating meta powers.” Dick reached over him again to tap the keys on the laptop. “I’m linking to the Titans and batcave databases to see if we can pull anything else up on her. If she's involved in meta-genetics, then she probably has linkages to some of our favorite black budget quasi-governmental entities."

Dick brought up the results of his query, and sure enough, Lee had several ties to defense contracting projects, the Department of Metahuman Affairs, Project Cadmus before it was put under new management, and even A.R.G.U.S. under Amanda Waller.

"She could be bad news," Dick commented.

Jason knotted his brows. "Maybe, but it doesn't necessarily justify being gunned down while running for your life."

"No. Of course not." Dick couldn't deny he was faintly relieved on some level to hear Jason say that. Rationally he knew Jason would never condone the killing of an innocent woman, but sometimes he wondered at what point did the lines get blurry. Black budget experimentation wasn't usually concerned with being humane with human subjects, and a scientist willfully conducting such research could be considered culpable. He had to remind himself that he needed to trust Jason on this, but he was also glad that they were working together. "We need to find out what she knew that was worth murdering for,” Dick said aloud. “Any known associates? Family? Has she been reported missing?”

“On it.” Jason flipped over to several windows he already teed up. “She hasn’t been reported missing, but she’s ‘married filing jointly’ on her tax returns to a Sarah Morena of Gotham. They have one dependent, a kid, listed as well.”

“Okay. We’ll need to question Sarah tonight to see what she knows. That was some fast work. I’m impressed, Jason.” Dick inclined his head to meet Jason’s gaze as he offered the compliment. He was still partly leaning over Jason to look at the small laptop screen, and from this angle, Dick could clearly see the flush of pink in Jason’s cheeks. 

Interesting. So Jason wasn’t as immune to praise as he pretended to be. It was cute, and that little niggling attraction he’d felt for Jason earlier suddenly flared up in intensity. He wondered if that little blush on Jason’s cheeks was more than humble embarrassment. Dick tested it by clapping a hand on Jason’s shoulder, a little closer to his neck than he normally would if it was a purely platonic gesture, letting his thumb stroke at the curve of Jason’s throat, lingering for a tad longer as he continued to hold Jason’s gaze.

Jason responded by turning a brilliant shade of red. It even reached the tips of his ears.

Well. That was certainly telling. 

It turned out that Jason was full of surprises today. Dick filed that bit of information away for later. In the meantime they had to get prepped for the evening’s activities.

A couple hours later they were heading back out to Gotham in one of Dick’s modified cars. After a quick stop at one of Jason’s bunkers for fresh gear, they headed toward the townhouse residence of Lenore and Sarah, nestled in the middle of an affluent Burnside development.

They entered through an open window on the upper floor, then split up. Jason searched the upper floor as Dick crept down to the bottom level where they had spotted Sarah sitting alone at the kitchen table. Dick approached first, calling out to her as he came out of the shadows. “Sarah Morena?” he said, “I’m here to ask you about Lenore.”

Sarah immediately jumped up from the table. “You’re Nightwing,” she said in surprise. She remained wary, but she didn’t run. That was a good sign. It probably meant she wasn't involved in her partner's death and hopefully that also meant she was open to talking. Most Gothamites who weren’t involved in criminal activity tended to react best to Nightwing too. Dick relied on his reputation to get people to trust him, and he hoped it would prove true this time around too.

“Can you tell me anything about when you last saw Lenore?” Dick prompted.

“It was a few days ago,” Sarah began to cry as she spoke. “They took her. Lenore said she wouldn’t work for them anymore, and they wouldn’t listen. So they took her! Lenore went to get her back!”

“Took who?” Dick asked with a sinking feeling in his gut. It wasn't Lenore that Sarah was talking about. Jason had said they had a kid together. A daughter. And it sounded like Lenore wasn’t the first who went missing.

“Livy. They took our Livy!” Sarah sobbed. She collapsed to her knees as she hugged her arms around herself. “They took Livy when Lenore said she wouldn’t give them the formula!”

“Who took her, Sarah? I’ll do everything I can to try and find her.” Dick knelt down beside Sarah, offering a comforting hand as she continued to cry.

“Sunderland. That bastard Sunderland,” Sarah spat. “Lenore went to talk to him. She didn’t want me to call the cops. She said to wait or they'd hurt her, but she never came back. I don’t know what to do!”

“I’m sorry, Sarah.” Dick hated this part. Seeing the grief of the victim’s families was always heartbreaking, but he needed to tell her what Jason had found out. “We don’t think Lenore made it, but I promise you, we’ll find Livy.” Dick wrapped his arms around Sarah as she dissolved into more tears. “Can you tell me anything about where they might have taken Livy? Anything can be a clue.”

“I… I don’t know, but Lenore’s been making trips back and forth from here to Blüdhaven. I think there’s a lab there.” Sarah wiped at her eyes even as more tears leaked out. "They let me talk to Livy only once, so that we knew she was still alive, but they never called again. I keep trying the number they called from, but it's disconnected."

"That's good, Sarah." Dick held her hand in his own, trying to offer her some reassurance. "Do you have your phone? I might be able to track the call."

She nodded and handed Dick her cell phone. He quickly cloned it to the data link embedded in his wrist. "Thank you," Dick said gently. "I'll find Livy and I'll bring her home. Until we figure out what we're dealing with, is there some place you can go? A relative maybe?”

Sarah shook her head. “I don’t have family close by. I don’t want to go far, in case Livy comes home.”

“You can go here,” Jason suddenly stepped out of the shadows, holding out a piece of paper. “Go to this address, punch in the code. You can stay there until it's safe. We’ll bring Livy to you.”

Sarah hesitated, but Dick reassured her. “You can trust him. He’s with me.”

She finally took the paper and nodded. “If you can’t bring Lenore back, bring my baby home.”

They waited as she quickly packed up a few belongings, including an extra set of Livy’s clothes, and then tailed her from afar until she made it safely to Jason’s safehouse. Afterwards, they regrouped on a rooftop to assess their next steps.

Dick had started running a tracer on the calls Sarah had received, and it was already triangulating to a location in Blüdhaven. "Looks like Sunderland Corp is tied to one _General Avery Sutherland._ He’s got ties up and down the military industrial food chain. They recently leased a large R&D facility on the East side," Dick said as he scrolled through the analysis he had networked into his phone. "I say we start there. How about you? What did you get from your search?”

Jason didn’t respond. He was wearing his helmet, which concealed any inkling of emotion that could have been read on his face. He stood stock still as he looked down at the city.

“Hood?” Dick ventured a step forward so that he was in Jason’s line of sight.

Jason finally turned to him, speaking through the hollow resonance of the voice modulator in his helmet. “She’s not dead. She should be, but she’s not.”

“What do you mean? Did you find something?”

“She wasn't covered in ashes," Jason replied.

“What?" Dick clenched his jaw to try and suppress the creeping unease he felt as he studied Jason. He was eerily calm, as if he had dissociated. “What does that mean?” Dick asked, but he had a feeling he already knew the answer to that. Jason was seeing the influence of death with his strange ability again. 

The opaque white eyes of Jason’s helmet stared fixedly at Dick. "If Lenore had died, Sarah would have been covered in ashes,” he said. “But she wasn't. Lenore isn't dead."

“What if she was lying?” Dick suggested.

Jason shook his head. “We both know she wasn’t.”

Dick didn’t disagree. Sarah had been sincere. Her grief and worry had been practically palpable. “So what now?”

Jason looked out over the city again, his head turning slowly as if tracking something along the skyline. “Now we go toward the cloud of death Lenore is creating as she tries to find her daughter.”


	3. Chapter 3

_Keep it together. Keep it together._ Jason chanted it in his head over and over as they drove back toward Blüdhaven. In hindsight Jason should have realized that he'd been gradually falling apart pretty much the entire day. First off, Dick _—Mr. touchy-feely-doesn't-know-the-meaning-of-personal-space—_ had kept crowding Jason the entire afternoon they'd been doing research, and it had really tested the limits of Jason’s self control.

He hadn't wanted to let slip the truth about the weird Pit-affects causing him to have visions either. Giving Dick and the other Bats another reason to think he was crazy was just about the last thing he needed, but Dick had kept pushing and pushing with the assumption that Jason had been fear-gassed, and Jason could tell that if he didn't offer some other explanation Dick was literally going to tranq him and drag him back to the cave. Jason had been too addled with visions of Dick, covered in ash and blood running down his own hands, to come up with a better story. So he'd confessed.

Jason had been surprised though, when as Dick finally let him settle down to _close the window,_ instead of finding Dick’s persistent hovering intrusive he'd found it grounding. Dick had held his hand (which looking back was embarrassing as hell), but somehow having a tangible living connection made the process easier. Jason supposed he shouldn't have been too surprised. It was harder to get dragged down by the undertow of death if you hand an anchor in the living.

Dick had surprised him again by only being marginally insistent that Jason explain himself, then he’d let the topic drop the rest of the evening as they continued their investigation. Everything would have been fine except for the fact that Dick just kept _touching him._ He’d kept leaning over Jason to reach the computer, and Jason was positive that Dick hadn’t missed the heat in his cheeks that last time, when Dick had let his hand rest intimately along the curve of Jason’s neck and shoulder. If Jason didn't know better, it seemed like Dick was intentionally verging on an intimate gesture.

 _Dick was just being friendly,_ Jason told himself. Except the feel of Dick close to him kept reverberating through his senses—a feeling like being wrapped in warmth that felt like it should have been a memory. It felt like a part of Jason was unraveling just at the very thought that maybe… _just maybe_ he wasn’t imagining it. Maybe Dick felt something too? Or was he just fooling himself?

Probably the latter, because he was most certainly losing it in other ways. Maybe it was the general inability to exert some self control, but the fucking _window_ in his head wouldn’t stay shuttered. The ashes had been so dusty on Dick on the drive over that he’d reflexively wanted to cough to clear his throat. It had only gotten progressively worse on Dick. He’d watched it shed from him as he moved, as if he was covered in dust. Meanwhile Sarah remained surprisingly free of any ash whatsoever. It could only mean that Lenore somehow wasn’t dead, and Jason had a growing feeling of dread that with the window blasted open like this, if he looked in a mirror again he wasn’t going to like what he saw. Something bad was going to happen, but Jason wasn't sure how he could stop it.

Even now as he looked southward over the horizon he could see a mass of something that looked like a swirling cloud of fire and blood. Blüdhaven was in that direction, and instinctively Jason _knew_ that it was Lenore. The sky grew redder as they approached the lab Dick had identified, tinting the world in a macabre wash of crimson.

"Hood?" Dick sidled up to Jason as he got out of the car. "Are you okay? What do you see?”

Jason blinked up at the R&D facility before them. It was larger than he’d expected _—_ a four story converted industrial building with a warehouse floor. From the outside it almost looked like a regular office building if not for the ghostly _river of blood_ that seeped out from the front doors.

Death had happened in the building. Recently too. Jason stepped forward, intending to find an entrance around the back, but Dick grabbed his wrist.

“Wait,” he said. “Are you still seeing something?”

“No,” Jason lied, but Dick didn’t buy it.

“Stay here,” he pushed Jason back toward the car. “I’ll go in and check it out. If you’re still affected by your… _ability,_ whatever happened to you last night on the pier could happen to you again here.”

“I’m fine,” Jason batted Dick’s hands away. “You can’t expect me to sit on the sidelines. We’re working this case together remember? And this isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with something like this.”

Jason pushed past Dick and darted for the rear of the building. Dick didn’t stop him, but he followed closely behind. “Tell me if you’re getting flashbacks. I’m serious. The minute it gets out of control I’m taking you out of here.”

Jason didn’t answer. Instead he focused on disabling the door locks and short circuiting the alarms, then he did his best to ignore the pool of blood on the floor (which wasn’t really there) as he stepped into the building. The viscous fluid bubbled up from the floor, as if it was being pushed up from below.

“There must be a basement somewhere,” Jason scanned the lobby they were standing in for some kind of stairwell access, but he couldn't quite make out the exits. The walls were covered in red gore.

Dick tugged Jason toward a hall on the left. “Over here.”

They busted through the locked door and then descended down until they reached another set of locked double doors. This time Dick quickly disabled the locks as Jason stared at the sloshing ankle-high stream of blood overflowing through the seams of the theshold.

“We’re in,” Dick signaled just as the locks flipped. He reached forward and slowly turned the handles.

They opened up onto a large room, probably spanning the width of the entire building. The right wall was lined with a row of small cells, each one of them splattered and sprayed with red. Jason could see bloody handprints streaked over the clear plexi-glass of the front walls.

“People were kept here.” Jason pressed his gloved hand over the print. “They were killed. This must have been some kind of experiment.”

“How can you tell?” Dick looked back and forth between the cells and Jason, clearly unable to see the marks of death that Jason could.

“You don’t want to know.” Jason didn’t want to have to explain it. If anything, focusing on it would make it worse. Dick seemed to get the hint for the moment, though he’d probably grill Jason on it as soon as they left the scene.

They continued to move through the room, Dick occasionally taking samples and stopping to tap into the network through one of the consoles. Jason moved toward the back of the room where there was another door. He opened it, and inside he found a large rectangular contraption with yet another smaller door. It was an incinerator. Jason could still feel the heat radiating from it. It must have been used rather recently. He reached a hand out to grab the handle, pulling the open the chamber to slowly to peak into the darkened interior, when suddenly it blazed to life.

Fire burst outward as screams filled his ears. Jason backed up and tripped, landing on his rear as the flames spread along the ceiling.

_She’s not here! Lenore, don’t do this! Please! We didn’t take her!_

The screaming continued. Voices began to implore and beg, layering over each other amidst terrified cries. Jason covered his helmet with his hands in a futile attempt to block out the sound, even as he felt the heat of fire envelope him. He gagged as the stench of burning flesh amidst the smoke choked his lungs.

_Oh god, you’ll burn us alive! Please let us go! She’s with Sunderland at the old base in the outskirts of town! Lenore, please!_

The screams that erupted sent chills down his spine. The flames bloomed into a blazing inferno that surrounded him on all sides, and it brought him back to a different place and time… in which he’d heard a maniacal laughter that drifted further and further away as his focus was drawn to the ticking countdown of a clock. He could see the numbers blinking down….

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Jason screamed. There was a piercing ring as his eardrums ruptured from the deafening detonation of the bomb. He felt the heat of the explosion searing his skin, the impact of rubble compressing the air from his chest and crushing his skull.

Then suddenly, Jason felt something wrenched off his head, and it took a few seconds to reconcile the incongruity of the memory with the present.

“Jason!” a frantic voice cut through the ringing in his ears and a strong set of arms wrapped around him.

He tried to twist away but the arms moved with him, quickly snaking around his sides and pulling him against a warm body. A hand cradled the back of his head, pressing his face against the firm planes of someone’s chest so that Jason could almost hear the soft thump of a heartbeat.

“Jason, it's me. I’ve got you,” a voice said. It finally registered that it was Dick.

A confusing surge of emotion flooded him, and Jason was pulled between wanting to retreat and hide away until he could recenter himself, and needing an anchor to hold onto amidst his floundering. His inability to decide resulted in the latter winning out, and as Dick held him, Jason found himself gripping the other’s arm to further steady himself. He tried to calm his rapidly pounding heart with slow steady breaths, imagining the _window_ in his mind’s eye again—this time with a strange tempest of fire and blood-rain raging outside. Jason slammed it shut again, even envisioning a solid set of shutters over the glass panes. He nailed them shut to make sure it stayed closed.

He could still hear the bloodstorm in his mind, whipping against the glass, but eventually it began to quiet. When it dwindled down to a low hum, Jason opened his eyes to find his head tucked into the crook of Dick’s arm, with his cheek pressed against the Nightwing emblem on his chest. Dick was looking worriedly down at him.

Jason felt himself go red, but thankfully it was probably too dark for Dick to see. Jason pushed himself out of Dick’s arms and teetered up until he could stand. “Um… I was… it got…,” Jason stammered for a witty remark to try and save face, but he was coming up with none.

Dick followed him, but stood a few feet away. “Are you okay? I was afraid I was going to have to carry you out.”

Somehow Jason’s face felt even hotter at that. He was a grown man, and he was a few inches taller and heavier than Dick. He wasn’t about to let himself be carried. “No!” he blurted out, then realizing that Dick could misinterpret his answer, he added, “I mean yes, I’m fine.”

As usual, Dick wasn’t convinced. “You’re off this case until we can figure out what’s triggering your ability. Come on, we’ll head back.”

“What? Hell no!” Jason squared up. “That’s not your call. Besides, I know where she is.”

“Who? Lenore? Or Livy?”

“Probably both of them pretty soon,” Jason marched toward the exit. The visions he had earlier of spattered gore were gone. The lab around them looked immaculately clean and sterile.

Dick hovered closely beside him. “Where are they? How do you know?”

“There’s an old army base outside of Blüdhaven right? She’s there,” Jason explained. “We’ve got to be careful with Lenore. She murdered her colleagues just a few hours ago to try and find her daughter. She’s not going to hesitate to kill us too if she thinks we’re in the way.”

“Okay,” Dick nodded. Jason could practically see the wheels in his head spinning. “We already know she’s been experimenting with meta-human genes, and that she’s potentially weaponized that as evidenced in the video of her being murdered. I might have an explanation for why she’s alive too. I scanned the network here and found that Lenore and her team have been working on something called a Bio-Restorative formula. I’ve read something about this in B’s files. It was something Alec Holland was working on before he became Swamp Thing, an entity of The Green. They’ve been working relentlessly on it's application to humans, and they’ve been successful."

Dick stepped over to a nearby console and brought up a video feed. The sound was off, but Jason watched as a man was strapped down onto a table, then given an injection. Some sort of contraption hovered him as he struggled in his bonds, and then suddenly a laser shot out over the man’s neck, severing his jugular vein. Jason watched, feeling sick as the man bled out. A time-lapsed cut followed, fast forwarding to a point in time several hours later. The man began twitching again in his bindings. He grew more responsive until he was screaming and struggling. Jason couldn’t hear him, but he could see the terror in the man’s eyes. The video cut out immediately after, and the screen went blank.

“What happened to him?” Jason turned to Dick.

“I’m not sure. He was a subject in the experiment several months ago,” Dick said solemnly. “The file says that some subjects without severe cerebral or cranial injuries spontaneously revived in hours or days if the Bio-Restorative was injected prior to death. All of the subjects are listed as _disposed._ He might be gone now.”

A deep fury welled up inside Jason. Lenore may have a missing daughter, but how many people had lost their lives at the hands of her and her colleagues? How many people had died in order for these so-called scientists to find a way to cheat death?

Jason turned away from the console. “Let’s go find her,” he said, feeling determined to see Lenore face up to her crimes.

“Wait,” Dick put a hand up to block his path. “Livy is our priority. We’ll find Lenore, but we need to turn her over to the authorities. We still don’t know how much she was coerced into these experiments, but Sarah said she wanted to quit. Plus there’s a larger industrial machine behind this that she might be able to help take down.”

Dick was right of course, but it still didn’t sit well. Experimenting with death hit too close to home. Jason hadn’t wanted to die, but he hadn’t chosen to be revived either, and experiencing either of those just once was painful enough to last a lifetime. The very idea of experimenting with death on people with no regard for their lives… to say it was atrocious was putting it lightly.

“She was a part of this up until they threatened her,” Jason pointed out. “She’s got to pay for her crimes.”

“And she will,” Dick said confidently, “by making sure this doesn’t happen again. Our priority right now though is Livy. We save her first, then we take in Lenore.”

Jason nodded, and they headed out.

* * *

Lenore had a several hour head start on them, but Jason was betting that even with the advantage of time, Lenore probably wasn't going to chance it without a plan when it came to her daughter. She may have cheated death once with the Bio-Restorative formula, but one didn't land a job doing cutting edge research (however shady) without being smart enough to do some planning and forethought. After getting murdered once, there was no way Lenore was just going to go blazing into the base if it meant putting her daughter at risk.

Sure enough, as they approached the base, Dick spotted a car parked off the road leading up to the base.

"She can't be far," Dick noted as they got out to inspect the car. "The engine's still warm. She'll be heading to the base on foot from here."

Jason didn’t disagree. In fact the trail of smoldering cinders leading away from the car confirmed it, though he doubted Dick could see it. The _window_ was cracking open again, a surefire indication that Lenore was leaving a trail that pointed toward impending death. They'd have to find her quickly, because once she found her daughter she was probably going to burn the whole base to the ground.

“This way,” Jason beckoned Dick to follow after him as he led the way.

“It’s happening again isn’t it?” Dick said. He trotted close to Jason as they made their way through the wooded perimeter of the base. It was pretty clear that Dick was talking about Jason’s visions. As usual, Dick was far too perceptive and far too vocal with his skepticism.

Jason was stubborn, but after what happened back at the Blüdhaven lab, he had to admit that this was a problem. If he was overwhelmed in the middle of a fight, he’d quickly become a liability. Or worse. He hadn’t forgotten what he’d seen in the mirror either. The long shadow of death had been cast over him since yesterday. That was a clearer indication than anything that things probably weren’t going to end well.

Even so, death was a nightly possibility in vigilante work. Tonight was really no different, and they were so close on Lenore’s trail. He couldn’t bow out now.

Jason paused and turned to Dick. “It’s manageable now, but I’m not sure for how long.”

Dick nodded, putting a hand out on Jason’s shoulder and squeezing. “If it gets any worse, you’re out. Our focus is getting Livy. Once we have her, you take her and run.”

“Okay.” Jason didn’t bother to question Dick’s command this time. It was as good a plan as any at this point.

Jason continued to follow the trail until they reached the perimeter fence. It had a large gaping hole, the edges of the metal still a glowing molten orange from being melted away. Whatever the meta-powers were that Lenore had obtained through her research, she evidently had figured out how to use them to their full extent.

They headed toward the central building of the base where an earlier scan of the building blueprint showed a garrison—a likely place to keep a hostage as it was secure and well defended. Jason had just barely started working on the door alarms when they heard a blast rock the building from the other side.

“Keep looking for Livy,” Dick was already running around the corner toward the explosion. “I’ll try and de-escalate Lenore.” He quickly disappeared out of view.

It was moot at this point to disable the alarms since they were already blaring, so Jason just settled for kicking open the door. Most of the military personnel were responding to Lenore’s attack, which left the halls on this side of the building empty. Jason crept along the corridors until he spied a room with two guards posted just outside.

That was it. That was where Livy was being kept. There was no reason to stand guard otherwise.

Jason readied his pistols and prepared to spring into an attack, only to back down at the last minute as a third figure suddenly stomped down the opposite end of the hall. He was in full uniform, sporting a few stars signifying the rank of a general. It was none other than General Sutherland.

“Give me the girl,” he ordered. “The Lee woman has taken the meta-gene serum and is burning through our ranks. I’ll show her a thing or two about declaring war.”

With that one of the guards opened the door and dragged out a young girl. She was no older than ten and clearly terrified, she sobbed as she tried to twist out of the guard’s grasp. A fierce rage reared up inside Jason as he watched. No child deserved to be used as collateral. Whatever was going on with her mother, whatever crimes could have been committed with Lenore’s illegal experiments, it was none of Livy's fault.

Jason tempered his outrage and planned his next move. Normally, taking down three soldiers wouldn’t have been a problem, but Sunderland didn’t seem to have any qualms about putting a child in harm’s way. Even one ricocheted bullet was too much of a risk, and Jason was too far down the hall and without a clear shot. He couldn’t be sure that he could take down all three without Livy getting hurt. He’d have to wait for a better position to open up.

Sunderland and the guards dragged the girl back to the far end of the corridor and disappeared around the corner. Jason silently followed until soon they were approaching the other end of the building. Jason could hear the rapid _ratatatat_ of automatic gunfire. Several soldiers were firing out through the broken windows into a wall of fire surrounding this side of the structure. Jason was willing to bet that Lenore stood on the other side of it, her hand stayed from razing the place only because she didn’t yet know where her daughter was.

“Nightwing, come in,” Jason whispered into his comm. “I’m inside the building, but there’s too many soldiers. General Sunderland has Livy. I think he’s going to try and use her as some kind of collateral against Lenore.”

“Hood,” Dick buzzed back. “I found Lenore. She’s cooperating. Sort of. But we’re pinned down behind a trailer on the roadway outside. We can’t see through the fire. Can you get to Livy?”

Jason carefully peered into the room where Sunderland had taken Livy, and he watched as one of the guards opened one of the exits. Before Jason could react, Sunderland pushed Livy outside, then followed quickly behind with a gun pointed at her head.

“Lee!” he shouted. “If you don’t come out in the next ten seconds with your hands up, your little girl isn’t going to come out of this alive!”

Jason cursed. Sunderland was going to force Lenore out using Livy as bait, and then he was going to kill her. Jason could see the wisps of ashes shedding off of Livy already. Blood stained her clothes and hands. Lenore was going to die again, and this time she might not come back.

“Ten. Nine. Eight….” Sunderland started counting. There was no way Jason was going to be able to take out all the soldiers before getting to Livy, but he couldn’t wait any longer. He pounced forward, sending wild shots at the soldiers hunkered by the windows as he propelled himself out the door toward Sunderland. Jason used an upward swipe to knock Sunderland’s arm out of the way just as the other man pulled the trigger, narrowly missing a shot at Livy’s head. Jason quickly disarmed him of the gun, but Sunderland recovered and pulled another. Jason grabbed him again, quickly countering and aiming a lethal jab at his throat. The general was quicker than Jason anticipated though. He parried, and though Jason had succeeded in disarming him of the second gun, the General still had the power of his words.

“Open fire!” he shouted.

There was no more time. In the next split-second, Jason dove to shield Livy from the gunfire, wrapping himself around her and covering her as much as he could with his body. He felt the impact of bullets hitting his back and thighs, a sharp jolt of pain that surely meant the bullets had pierced through his armor. He felt something ricochet off his helmet, and then the world seemed to light up around them.

He felt an incredible heat scalding through even the thick leather of his jacket and armor. For a second Jason thought that the flashbacks were returning, but there was no crush of concrete and debris that followed. He soon realized that the fire was real.

It was Lenore. He could hear her shrieking as the fire blazed on, followed by a loud chorus of screaming. The soldiers behind them were being burned alive.

“Lenore! Stop!” Jason recognized the voice as Dick’s. “You’ll hurt Livy!”

The fire abruptly stopped.

Jason pushed himself off of Livy and then collapsed onto his back. For some reason it was hard to breath.

“Livy!”

Jason heard a woman cry out, and from the corner of his eye he could see Lenore with her arms wrapped tightly around Livy. That was good, Jason thought, his thoughts were oddly sluggish, except there was blood all over Livy’s clothes. He blinked his eyes several times, thinking that maybe it was the visions again. He’d seen blood and ashes on her earlier, but the ashes were now gone. So was she hurt?

No. She was safe. Both Lenore and Livy were alive and mostly unharmed. They were both crying and sobbing. So where had the blood come from?

Jason tried to roll over and push himself up, but he felt cold. He lay back down and tried to rest as Dick suddenly appeared over him and began fussing with Jason’s armor.

“Lenore!” Dick shouted. “Help me apply pressure!” He sounded frantic, but Lenore rushed over as he brought up his hands. They came away bloody.

Oh. Damn.

Jason realized why he couldn’t feel it when Lenore pressed down on his abdomen. He was bleeding out.

“He’s not going to make it,” Jason heard her say.

“No!” Dick’s voice sounded awfully choked for some reason. “We have to save him!”

Lenore lifted her hands to pull something from inside her pocket. It was long and thin and looked like a syringe. She moved her hands and it disappeared out of sight.

Jason wondered what she was doing, but things were getting fuzzy and dark so he closed his eyes.

* * *

Jason woke to the steady pulse of a soft beeping.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

For a minute, he thought it was the ticking of a countdown clock… _5, 4, 3, 2, 1…._

Except it kept going. There was no fiery explosion. No falling rubble. No pain. Not a flashback then, so what? It took a moment for him to register that his eyes were still closed, so he blinked them open to see a familiar set of beautiful blue eyes staring down at him.

Jason worked his throat until he could grind out the words: “You again?”

Dick’s eyes brightened. A quiet laugh escaped his lips and Jason felt the warmth of Dick’s palms envelop his hand. “Rise and shine. You slept like the dead, Jay.”

“Har har har,’ Jason wheezed. “Low blow.”

“Sorry,” Dick gave his hand a squeeze. “I was really worried about you for a while. You’ve been out for days.”

Days? It felt like just a second ago that he’d been lying on the ground with Lenore and Dick hovering over him. He’d seen blood on Dick’s hands, just like in his vision.

That realization wiped away the vestiges of haze from his thoughts. He looked at Dick more intently, watching for any further wisps of ash or blood splatter. He saw none.

Good. Either the window was shut, or Dick was in the clear. Jason just needed to check himself. “Do you have a mirror?”

Dick looked puzzled at the request, but he left the room in search of the requested item. He returned a few minutes later with a hand mirror.

Jason took it, raising it slowly as he braced himself for his reflection. He recalled the dreadfully desiccated image of his dead corpse looking back at him the morning this all started. It was an image he didn’t want to see again any time soon. Jason took a deep breath and turned the mirror up the final degrees to point directly at his face.

There were hollow looking eyes looking back at him for sure, but it was just the slightly sunken darkness of exhaustion. His face looked pale and he was scruffy and unshaven. In short, he looked terrible.

“Fuck,” Jason mumbled. “Is this what being alive looks like?”

Dick smiled brightly. “Yes. Probably not your best look, but I’ll take it.”

He squeezed Jason’s hand again, then before Jason could react, he leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips.


	4. Chapter 4

It had nearly turned into Dick’s worst nightmare. He had watched helplessly as Jason dove to cover Livy as a spray of bullets immediately erupted from the building. Dick had managed to pull Lenore out of the direct line of fire earlier in order to hunker down behind a supply trailer, but it left them too far away to reach Jason before the gunfire began.

Upon seeing her little girl being shot at though, Lenore threw any traces of caution to the wind. She stabbed herself with another dose of whatever pyrotechnic meta-gene she’d developed and launched herself straight toward the fray. She’d burnt about a dozen soldiers to a crisp by the time she was close enough to reach Livy, but by then she’d almost lost herself to her rage. It took Dick tackling her to the ground to bring some sense back into her, and by then it was too late for Jason.

Blood soaked the dirt as Dick had tried to apply pressure to his wounds, but he was losing too much blood too quickly. He was going to bleed out in a matter of minutes and Dick was going to lose him. Again.

Or so he’d thought.

At the last minute Lenore pulled something from her coat and injected Jason with it. It turned out to be her last dose of her closely guarded Bio-Restorative formula. It revived Jason enough that Dick was able to immediately call a medevac to the closest Justice League sanctioned hospital.

He flatlined on the way there, and twice more during surgery, but the effects of the Bio-Restorative were miraculous indeed. It worked through some kind of latent regenerative effect triggered by the onset of necrosis, which translated into a temporary enhanced healing ability. Jason had made a full recovery within days and he was quickly released to go home.

Except that was the problem. Jason wanted to return to his safehouse in Gotham, but Dick wasn’t quite ready to let him go.

The last few days had brought to light a few realizations. First, that he and Jason worked well together. As much as Jason liked to act the cantankerous lone wolf, he was surprisingly adaptable despite the severity of his stubbornness. It was something that Dick actually rather liked in a partner. He liked to work with someone who was willing to challenge him, and who was willing to accept pushback from Dick in return. Add to that, Jason was incredibly adept at doing investigations. He was meticulous but had a good instinct for deducing conclusions. He'd picked up on Dick’s network architecture in minutes, able to navigate and surface clues to a degree that worked well with Dick’s natural knack for connecting patterns. Dick had known all this intellectually, given that Jason had been trained by Bruce, but he’d rarely seen it as up close and in action as he had the last few days.

Which led to his second realization—that Dick didn’t know Jason nearly well enough as he thought he did. The strange powers were a complete surprise for one. Even though Jason had assured Dick that something called _the window_ was fully closed, Dick remained skeptical. There were too many unknowns, and the fact that it had flared up just days before Jason nearly died—or rather _did_ die, if you count flatlining three times in a single night—left Dick very concerned for Jason’s wellbeing. If he was ever caught out again when the ability went out of control there was a high chance that the results wouldn’t be as fortunate as having a semi-mad scientist/doctor with a Bio-Restorative formula nearby to revive you. Dick wanted to dig more into how Jason’s ability worked, and he wanted to keep an eye on Jason to make sure he stayed safe.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the subtle attraction Dick had felt earlier hadn’t subsided. If anything it had grown a lot over the last few days, blossoming into a more complex appreciation for Jason’s multitude of facets. From his sharp wit and predilection for dark humor, to the fact that behind the gruff exterior he was genuinely kind and self-sacrificing, to the fact that he was hot as hell with hardly a clue to the effect that he had on people. There was a certain charm in Jason’s lack of self-awareness, which also meant that it was easier for Dick to subtly appreciate him from afar.

Dick on the other hand, was well aware of his good looks. He often used it to his advantage when a little flirting and the compulsion of effective charisma got him further than any sort of brute force in certain situations. He wondered how much it would work on Jason. It was already clear that Jason reciprocated, if all those bright red blushes and that flustered stuttering was any indication, and Dick considered himself quite the master at reading the signs. Now it was a matter of getting Jason to admit it.

Maybe it was telling too that Jason didn't put up much of a fight when Dick insisted that Jason stay with him to make sure there were no adverse effects from being treated with the Bio-Restorative.

“You should stay at my place for a bit until we can be sure there aren’t any side effects from Lenore’s formula, and that your…you know… your ability stays under control,” Dick had said.

“Um,” Jason said hesitantly as he glanced up from where he’d been signing out of the clinic using his assumed alias. Dick had had him moved to a private establishment that wouldn’t ask questions immediately after the surgery, but they still had to keep up pretenses in case.

"I had Alfred drop off a bag for you at my place," Dick continued before Jason could waffle. "I let him know that you were injured, but that's all. I won't tell Bruce about your ability unless you want me to, but we've got to figure out what to put in the case file. We can do it together over the next few days while we make sure you're in the clear."

It was a little bit of bribery and a little bit of manipulation. Dick knew the last thing Jason wanted was to have Bruce suddenly breathing down his neck over what had happened. At the same time he also knew Jason wouldn’t want Dick closing out the case without him. Dick had given him a quick update before they left the hospital: Lenore had voluntarily remanded herself into custody once she and Livy had reunited with Sarah. It was likely she'd put in for a plea deal in exchange for her testimony against the larger group of industrial backers, including Sunderland Corp. Even though Lenore had pretty much burnt him and all the scientists involved to a crisp already, there were still plenty of other figures lurking in the corporate shadows who owed an explanation to the murdered experimental subject’s families.

Jason remained unusually quiet during the drive back to Dick’s apartment, as if he was preoccupied with something. Dick decided not to press him into conversation at the moment. Jason was completely healed thanks to Lenore’s intervention, but it was possible he was still exhausted.

He still kept oddly silent as they entered Dick’s apartment. Dick scanned the room as he entered. It was a routine that Bruce had ingrained in him early on in his training. He quickly noted that there was a bag next to the couch—Jason’s overnight bag left there by Alfred—and a few bags of groceries in the kitchen. A quick look in the fridge showed it was restocked as well.

“Gotta love Alfie,” Dick commented as he dug toward the back of the shelf to find a couple cans of soda (probably a little too soon for beer, he thought). He offered one to Jason, who was standing by the couch, clutching the overnight bag in his hands.

Jason didn’t take the proffered beverage. He just stared at it, then flicked his eyes toward the bedroom door, then at the exit. He had a look in his eye that made Dick think he was about to bolt.

Uh oh. Maybe Dick had miscalculated.

He realized this probably looked kind of odd to Jason. Dick only had one bedroom, and thus one bed. Not to mention that Dick had kissed him full on the lips, though brief, right after Jason had woken up. Dick hadn’t tried it again, and Jason hadn’t brought it up, but Dick had been hoping Jason would be open for more.

Looked like Jason wasn’t so sure. “Dick, what am I doing here?” Jason had schooled his features into a neutral expression that was difficult to read, but Dick could see the tension in the rigid line of his back. In the knotted grip of his knuckles as he held the bag in his hands. He wasn’t reacting as well as Dick had hoped.

Coming on strong would probably raise Jason’s hackles, so Dick took a softer approach. “For one, I’m worried about you. Your ability made the situation with this case unpredictable and it put you at risk, especially when you were on your own. You nearly died, and almost losing you a second time had me terrified. And two, I realized these last few days that I want more from you. And I’m pretty sure you might want more from me too.”

Okay, maybe that wasn’t exactly soft, but say what you will, Dick wasn’t known for being shy.

The neutral facade on Jason’s face slipped away as he stared back at Dick with wide eyes and mouth agape. “What? You mean… I didn’t–.” His face turned a lovely shade of scarlet as he finally stammered out. “How did you know?”

That was a better reaction. "Let's just say I've got a nose for these sorts of things." Dick smiled and leaned forward, feeling emboldened now that Jason didn’t try to deny it.

He reached out to rest a hand at the join of Jason’s neck and shoulder, like he did the other day when they were researching on Dick’s laptop, except this time he kept his hand moving. He curled his fingers to graze along the curve of Jason’s neck, moving behind to stroke along his nape and then softly running his fingers through Jason’s hair. He cupped the back of Jason’s head to tilt his face just a fraction downward so that Dick could meet him in a kiss.

Jason’s lips were warm and supple. Dick let the kiss linger, testing how far and how long Jason would let him go. He didn’t pull away, which was a good sign so Dick repeated the kiss, flicking his tongue out this time to lick and suck gently at Jason’s bottom lip.

Dick pulled back enough to look into Jason’s eyes, keeping his fingers tangled in Jason’s hair so he couldn’t turn away. “You can tell me ‘no’ and I’ll stop,” Dick brought his other hand up to run along Jason’s lips. “Or you can kiss me back.”

It was cute, because Jason actually took a brief moment to chew on his bottom lip. He let the bag he was holding slip out of his hands. It hit the floor with a thunk. Then, he reached a hand up slowly, _tentatively,_ until he was mirroring Dick, his fingers gently brushing over Dick’s cheek to strand through his hair. He wet his lips, but didn't advance any further.

Dick waited. Jason wasn't going to say 'no.' Dick was absolutely certain of that. But maybe he wasn’t going to say 'yes' either. Not without a little encouragement. As much as Jason projected bold confidence with a flair for dramatics as the Red Hood, he could be much more reticent and reserved as Jason Todd. He needed a little coaxing, maybe a little more positive feedback, so Dick leaned in again until he could feel the warm puff of Jason’s breath.

"Kiss me back," Dick repeated, lowering his voice to a sultry whisper, though it was hardly a question. It was more like a command. An order. He captured Jason's mouth again with his own, pushing between Jason’s lips with his tongue to taste him.

Finally, Jason opened up to him, letting Dick into the warmth and wetness of his mouth. Dick deepened the kiss as Jason responded somewhat clumsily, but full of fervor. Dick tilted his head to get a better angle, sliding his hands down to wrap around Jason’s waist. He pulled them together, closing the gap between them so he could press along the length of Jason’s body.

Jason stiffened and sucked in a breath, but Dick soothed him with another kiss, keeping their lips locked as he stroked up and down along Jason’s back. He snaked a hand downward to skirt along the hem of Jason’s shirt, pushing it up slightly so he could tease a thumb along the sliver of exposed skin.

That caused another sharp intake of breath. Jason broke the kiss momentarily. He was panting. "Dick," he breathed, full of want and need—his lips were flushed and wet with saliva, his face was tinged pink with arousal—but he seemed to hesitate on what to do next.

Dick watched as Jason ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t look fearful or distant like when he was having visions, but rather he just looked… nervous.

Ah. It occurred to Dick that it wasn't reticence he was sensing from Jason, but rather inexperience, but Jason was too embarrassed to say so. That was easily fixed. Dick was practiced in this arena, and he was happy to take the lead.

"Come on." He pushed Jason down to sit on the couch. Dick sat beside him and leaned forward. “Just relax,” he said and brushed their lips together again. He took it slower this time, savoring the feel of Jason’s mouth, peppering short pecks against Jason’s lips between more languid kisses in which he swirled his tongue against Jason’s until they were both out of breath.

Dick stroked his hands up Jason’s chest, thumbing at his nipples through the thin fabric of his t-shirt until they were perked and hard. A soft whimper escaped Jason’s throat as Dick continued to kiss and suck and tease.

Good. Jason liked that, Dick noted, and he continued his ministrations, slipping his hands up Jason’s shirt this time to flick his fingers over the bare skin of the perked buds. It elicited a pleasured gasp. Another little moan that had Dick feeling the pulse of his growing erection straining against his fly. Something about those little cries of pleasure, the way Jason was somehow both blatantly eager and adorably shy, and the way in which his desire decorated his face and neck in rosy color—and in just a few seconds it had Dick’s cock twitching alert until the pressure grew uncomfortably tight.

Dick flattened his palms against Jason’s chest and pushed him back until Jason was lying face up on the couch. Dick crouched over him, wedging a knee in between Jason’s legs and pushing up Jason’s shirt until he could get a good view of his bare torso. He traced his fingers around the blush of Jason’s nipples, moving lower to trace over a new puckered line over his abdomen. It was where Jason had been recently shot. It was where the Bio-Restorative had miraculously healed him. Dick leaned down and pressed his lips against the scar. Licked a slick wet line up and down the sensitive, pink skin. Jason shuddered, and Dick trailed his hands down further until he was rubbing slow strokes up and down Jason’s thighs.

Jason was powerfully built. Dick could feel the tension in the corded muscles even through the materials of Jason’s pants. He imagined those powerful legs wrapped around him as he fucked into Jason. As Dick _made love_ to him. He imagined Jason splayed beneath him, moaning in the throes of pleasure as Dick brought him to climax. He wanted to see that badly, but he had to temper himself. This seemed new to Jason, so Dick would have to take it slow.

He kissed and nipped up Jason’s chest again, lingering on Jason’s nipples as he probed and swirled his tongue over the nubs of flesh. Jason arched upward, moaning loudly as he tangled his fingers in Dick’s hair. Dick proceeded to ease upward until he was suckling at Jason’s neck. He paused only to pull Jason’s shirt the rest of the way off, until he was laying half naked and panting.

Dick took a moment to appreciate the view. His eyes trailed over Jason’s broad, muscled shoulders that led down to the rounds of his pecs. He let his gaze wander over Jason’s taught belly and down further until his eyes fixed on Jason’s crotch. He was only wearing a thin pair of sweats, and Dick could clearly see the bulge that was beginning to tent between Jason’s legs. Jason looked up at him expectantly, chewing on his bottom lip again as he held still. It was as if he was waiting for Dick to provide some sort of queue.

Interesting. Dick found he liked the idea of telling Jason what to do. He leaned over Jason again and kissed him at the same time he trailed a hand to caress Jason’s hip. Dick let his thumb slide over the cotton of Jason’s sweats, down the crook of where his thigh met his groin. Jason squirmed and twitched as Dick stroked with a light pressure alongside the line of Jason’s hardened cock but not quite touching it yet.

“I want you Jay,” Dick breathed between kisses. “I want to make love to you until you’re screaming my name. Do you want that?” Dick moved his thumb down and down between Jason’s legs until he was pressing just below his balls, nudging at his taint until he could feel the reflexive pulse of Jason’s cock.

“Yes,” Jason groaned. _“God yes.”_

That was the answer Dick was waiting for. He pulled back and moved his hands to Jason’s waist, hooking them under the band of both his sweats and boxers, then tugging them down slowly. Jason lifted his hips to accommodate, until Dick slid them the rest of the way down past his thighs.

He stopped when the sweats were still tangled around Jason’s ankles. Jason was fully engorged, his cock long and thick, nestled in a soft nest of dark hair and already dripping clear beads of pre-come over his belly.

“Nice, Jay,” Dick smiled down at him. “Very nice. It didn’t take you long to get hard for me.”

“Shut up,” Jason snapped. “You talk too much.”

Dick didn’t think Jason could get any redder, but a fresh rush of blood darkened the tips of his ears. He tried to look disgruntled but it wasn’t working. He was too obviously aroused, and the fact that he’d spread his legs out further spoke more to what he really wanted, which contrasted with the snark of his words. Still, Dick liked that little spark of defiance in Jason. This was going to be fun.

He let a mischievous smile creep onto his face as he scooted down to settle between Jason’s legs. “Just lay back and try and relax.”

"Stop telling me to rela–,” Jason started, but he didn’t finish because Dick suddenly took Jason into his mouth and the last of his words turned into a garbled groan.

Dick sucked down the length of Jason’s cock, opening his throat up so he could take him down all the way to the root. Then he slowly pulled back until his lips were just wrapped around the tip of the glans. Dick hummed and flicked his tongue along Jason’s slit, then took him all the way down again and repeated the process.

“Oh fuck! Fuck, Dick.” Jason babbled incoherently. It almost sounded like he was sobbing, but he was arching and writhing in pleasure, with one hand tangled in Dick’s hair and the other clutching at the cushions. “Dick, that feels fucking amazing.”

Dick’s lips were thoroughly occupied wrapped around Jason’s cock, so he responded with a hum of agreement. It elicited another one of those gorgeous whimpers from Jason and Dick couldn’t help but feel pleased at the response. If Jason thought that was amazing, wait ‘til what came next.

He pulled back momentarily to reach for the drawer of the end table, pulling out a packet of lube. Jason watched, his eyes widening as Dick slicked up two fingers.

“What are you doing?” Jason asked, a hint of trepidation slipping through.

Dick leaned over him and kissed him quiet, sucking on Jason’s tongue as he reached downward to rub back and forth under Jason’s scrotum, then edging further and further until he was stroking slow circles around his rim. “Just keep breathing. Stay relaxed.”

Jason broke away to huff, “I’m relaxed.”

He wasn’t. He was tensing up, so Dick moved down to nuzzle at his cock again. “You need to loosen up. I promise you’ll like this.” He followed up by massaging Jason’s scrotum with his tongue, lolling each of his balls in Dick’s mouth one by one as he used his hand to pump over Jason’s twitching cock. He used his other hand to continue to nudge at Jason’s hole, slowly dipping a finger just inside and moving his finger in and out. Back and forth. Circling a wider radius until he could slip a second finger in alongside.

“Nnnnn….” Jason groaned as Dick pressed further in. He pulled a leg upward towards his chest to allow Dick to begin a steady rhythm, plunging fingers in and out. Dick moved slowly at first, curling his fingers slightly to find the sensitive bundle of nerves inside. As much as Jason pretended to gripe, he was quite vocal and responsive. Dick loved that. He could tell immediately when he’d found the spot as Jason whined and quivered each time Dick grazed his prostate.

“That’s it, Little Wing. I want to see you come for me. I want to hear you say my name when you do.” Dick jacked his hand over Jason’s cock faster, keeping it in sync with the movement of his fingers slipping in and out of Jason’s hole. He continued even as he moved back up to kiss at Jason’s nipples, sucking them until they were hard and distended, rolling them with his tongue and nipping with his teeth.

“Aaagh! Dick….” Jason cried out, curling and bucking at the stimulation until he was spurting over himself as he came. “Dickie… jesus fuck. Dick….” He murmured Dick’s name as he clenched and pulsed over Dick’s fingers.

“That’s it Jay. That’s beautiful.” Dick slowed his movements until finally Jason pulled away, too overstimulated and sensitive after his climax.

Jason lay limply before him, breathing hard and looking utterly debauched. Despite the persistent ache in Dick's loins, watching Jason unravel like this had been extremely satisfying.

“What about you?” Jason regathered and tried to push himself up.

“I’ll get my turn soon,” Dick smirked. “Why don’t we get cleaned up?”

He trailed a hand over the spend cooling over Jason’s stomach. It was starting to run down his abs. The tip of his flaccid cock still dripped fluid onto his thighs. Dick reached under Jason’s elbow and hauled him up to plant a kiss on his lips as he got them on their feet. Dick marched toward the bedroom with Jason hobbling a few steps behind, kicking out of his soiled bottoms.

Once they reached the bathroom, Dick pushed Jason into the shower, then began stripping to join him. Jason flushed and looked away, which Dick found achingly cute given the intimacy they had just shared, but there was no time like the present to get Jason more comfortable with it. If things kept going this well, they were going to be seeing a lot more of each other’s bodies.

The shower was a tight fit for the two of them. There was just enough room for Dick to press them together with Jason’s back flush against the wall. They spent several minutes kissing and groping under the warm spray of water. Dick’s erection had flagged a little after he’d brought Jason to completion, but the blood quickly collected in his groin again as he soaped them up and slid his hands between them. Jason tentatively brushed his hand over Dick’s cock, his fingers lightly encircling his girth.

“That’s it. Touch me,” Dick encouraged as he wrapped his hand over Jason’s. He increased the pressure, pumping their hands together up and down slowly. Dick wrapped his other hand around the back of Jason’s head, tugging lightly to bring their foreheads to touch. “Keep going. Slow. Get me good and hard... then I want to watch you come again. This time with me inside you. You’re going to come as I'm fucking you.”

Jason faltered for a second, his hand momentarily loosening its grip, but Dick could feel the subtle pulse of Jason’s cock stirring to life against Dick’s thigh. After a moment Jason repositioned his hand and started pumping over Dick’s cock again.

Jason took up the rhythm with a little more confidence now. Good. He was learning. “Are you always this bossy?” Jason said. He licked at the splash of water that dripped down his lips.

“Only when you’re so good at taking orders.” Dick thrust his hips into Jason’s hand for emphasis. He could feel a pool of heat building up in his belly, but he’d also told Jason that he wanted more from him, and right now a quick hand job in the shower wasn't quite good enough.

The come and soap had long since washed away at this point. While Dick looked forward to the day that he would take Jason in the shower, sex standing up tended to be awkward and clumsy without a little practice. It wasn’t the experience he wanted for his first time with Jason, so he shut off the water and led them out. It was time for Dick to take this some place more comfortable.

He kissed Jason as they dried off, slowly backing him up and out the door until they crossed into the bedroom. He kept at it, moving to nip and worry at Jason’s throat as the back of his knees hit the bed. Dick angled his foot behind Jason’s heel, sweeping it out from under him so that Jason toppled backwards onto the mattress. Dick straddled over him, pressing their cocks together, feeling Jason’s renewed hardness sliding against his own.

Dick pulled more lube from the bedside drawer and squeezed a liberal amount onto his fingers for the second time that night. He deftly sought out Jason’s entrance and began probing with his fingers. They slipped in more easily this time as Dick moved them in and out, working Jason open each time he scissored and prodded and plunged. He began to thrust them more quickly and more forcefully so that Jason was already moaning with each invasion.

“Are you ready for me, Little Wing?” Dick poured more lube onto his cock, giving himself a few slow pumps to coat himself from root to tip. He sighed at the sensations. He’d been pent up for a while at this point and it was hardly enough to take the edge off.

He hooked a hand under Jason’s thigh, hauling him into Dick's lap and spreading him wide as he slid the tip of his cock over Jason’s puckered hole.

“Would you shut up. Don’t fucking call me that.” A wonderful flush bloomed over Jason’s features again as he knotted his brow in consternation.

Dick laughed. “I’ll shut up when you do, _Little Wing._ Now, are you ready?” He nudged himself forward, applying just enough pressure so that Jason could feel it, but not enough for him to penetrate past the tight ring of muscle.

Jason nodded, sucking in a breath and closing his eyes.

“No, Jay.” Dick poised himself at Jason’s entrance. "I want you to open your eyes. Watch me."

It took a couple beats, but slowly Jason opened his eyes, meeting Dick’s gaze with intensity. When he was sure that Jason was watching, Dick pushed forward. Slowly flexing his hips so that he was breaking past the initial resistance. He could feel Jason stretching around him. He could see the subtle twinges of discomfort flicker over Jason’s features as the head of Dick’s cock fully breached him. Dick watched Jason gasp as Dick began a few shallow thrusts, pushing in an inch or so before pulling back in equal measure, then pushing forward deeper and deeper with each successive piston of his hips until he was fully seated inside Jason.

Dick finally broke eye contact to look down at where they were now joined. The nest of Dick’s dark pubic curls brushed against Jason’s taint. Above that the dusky swell of Jason’s scrotum, and _above_ _that_ his ruddy stiffened cock. It was a beautiful view. Dick could feel himself pulsing inside Jason’s glorious heat.

"You should see yourself, wrapped around my cock like this," Dick said as he began to move. "You feel so good. I can feel you gripping me. Do you like that?”

A rough moan was Jason’s response. He fluttered his eyes shut as Dick set a steady pace, grinding his hips forward each time he bottomed out so that Jason was rocking back and forth on the bed. Those adorable little whimpers escaped his lips again, his breath punctuated with a longer keening each time Dick varied his pace or changed his angle to glance against Jason’s prostate.

“Ah!” Jason curled as Dick hit that sweet spot, and Dick moved with him. He pushed Jason’s thighs upward so he could continue battering down into him. “Dick...,” Jason's voice was wispy and breathless. The words that followed came out a jumbled mess as Dick snapped his hips a little faster.

“God you look so good.” Dick was panting too now. Each thrust brought more and more flashes and flares of heat. It felt like a burst of fire that scorched his senses, sending him closer and closer into ecstasy. He was getting close now, balanced on the ridge of the most pleasurable fall he could imagine.

Any vestige of inhibition on Jason's part was crumbling away too. Dick could tell by the way the plaintive whimpers had now consolidated into one long, drawn out wail. He could tell in how Jason curled and arched and twisted, and in the way his cock was bobbing and leaking over his belly.

“Come on, Jay,” Dick reached between Jason’s legs, pumping his cock in time as Dick speared him. “Open your eyes. Look at me when you come.”

Jason obeyed. He opened his eyes, glazed and unfocused as he teetered on the verge of release. Dick rocked into him hard, sweeping his hips up so that he was pushing against Jason’s anterior walls, and then Jason was capitulating, crying out in orgasm as his body clenched and contracted. His hands flailed out and clawed at the sheets. He squeezed his eyes shut and tears streamed down his face as thick ropes of come splattered across Dick’s chest.

Dick felt himself hurtling over the precipice only seconds later. It felt like a floodgate inside him bursting open. A surge of pleasure crashed through him as he hammered his hips several more times, pulling himself all the way out before ramming back in again and again. He spilled himself across Jason’s buttocks, then pumped his cock into him to deposit what was left deep inside. Dick collapsed over Jason as he rode out the final, pulsing wave of orgasm. When the last of it subsided he let himself slip out, then scooted upwards to lavish Jason’s mouth with a sloppy kiss.

“You okay?” Dick rolled them onto their sides, maneuvering into a more comfortable position where they were lying face-to-face.

“Yeah.” Jason sounded breathy and exhausted. It was a simple, short answer that sparked more questions, but as he wrapped his arms around Jason, pulling him close to tuck his head under his chin, Dick decided that for now, the answer would be enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many many thanks to [BunnyJess for the beta!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyJess/pseuds/BunnyJess) You're awesome!


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